78 ENGLISH ESTATE FORESTRY 



upon the judgment shown in the selection of the periodic 

 falls. If these are confined to all large-headed, badly shaped, 

 faulty individuals, together with a few of the ripest trees, 

 the wood in time becomes composed of tall, straight, and 

 fairly clean trees of various ages, or, in the most satisfactory 

 examples, of groups of such trees. But where the wood is 

 thinned merely with a view to make money for the time 

 being, and regardless of its future condition, while a large 

 proportion of worthless trees are allowed to remain and 

 prevent seedlings coming up where they stand, the wood 

 quickly gets into a condition for which the only remedy is 

 more or less gradual clearing of the old crop, and a fresh 

 growth of seedlings in order to form a new wood. It is not 

 difficult to understand, from the above description, that a 

 great difference in the condition of these woods exists, and 

 whilst some are able to yield a fair return to their owners, 

 and at the same time carry on a useful crop for the future, 

 others contain little but worthless trees, and no adequate 

 crop of seedlings to grow into useful timber. 



One reason for the unsatisfactory condition of some of 

 these woods may be traced to the altered state of the market 

 for beech in this district. Up to within the last fifty years 

 or so the consumption of beech was not more than a 

 moderate supply could meet, and the trees were allowed to 

 reach a fair marketable timber size before being felled. But 

 since the advent of steam, and the consequent development 

 of the chair -making industry, the demand has greatly 

 increased, and now the supply fails to meet it. That this 

 fact has altered the conditions under which these woods at 

 one time existed, there is little room to doubt. Their 

 management has undergone a change with the increased 

 demand, and the timber is now cut much smaller and 

 younger than was formerly the case. This has not affected 

 its value per cubic foot to any great extent, as for turning 

 purposes small beech is equally as valuable as large. But it 

 has affected to a very great extent the yield of the woods per 

 acre, owing to the fact that the majority of the trees are 

 felled at an age when they are making their most profitable 

 growth, and therefore the annual increment per acre is much 

 below what it would be if the trees were allowed to stand 



